


Hearts

by raininshadows



Category: Hive Mind Series - Janet Edwards
Genre: Case Fic, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-26 05:11:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17739620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raininshadows/pseuds/raininshadows
Summary: An emergency run on Valentine's Day leads to a special happening.





	Hearts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [burglebezzlement](https://archiveofourown.org/users/burglebezzlement/gifts).



> Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you like the fic.

The alarm woke me up. I stumbled out of the sleep field, nearly tripped over yesterday's clothes, and threw on the outfit Lucas handed me. It wasn't until we were in the lift and moving down towards Level 50, where a teenage boy was threatening to stab his ex, that I realized it was very early in the morning on Valentine's Day. 

"The boy is named Brian. He's sixteen, and it was a recent breakup," Lucas said. "His ex-partner, Robin, apparently wasn't comfortable around him any more." 

"If this is close to how he was acting before, I can't say I'm surprised," Adika commented. 

"Robin was coming back from a late-night advanced plant care class when Brian grabbed them. He's locked himself and Robin in Robin's room and is threatening to kill them if anyone tries to get into the room," Lucas continued. "The hasties called us once they realized he had a hostage." 

Adika nodded to Rothan, indicating that Rothan should be taking the lead here. "All right," Rothan said. "We're heading towards the 354/3626 community center, since that's the one that should be closest to Robin's room. Amber, do you think you can read Brian's mind from there?"

I jumped into Rothan's mind to find out how far it was. Robin's room was across the hallway and down a ways, but it shouldn't be an impossible distance. "I think so." 

"I'd rather keep you in the community center if possible, since it's more easily defensible than in the middle of the corridor," Rothan explained. "Forge, I know you did some exploring in the odder corners of Teen Level. Any ideas here?" 

Forge thought for a moment. "Is Robin's room one of the ones with the big vent inspection hatches?" 

"Let me check," Nicole said. "It is, actually."

Forge turned to Rothan. "I won't be able to get into the room itself without tipping Brian off, but I can get there and possibly communicate with Robin." 

"That would be useful," Rothan said. "They must be terrified, and the hasties don't dare do anything other than stand back and let Brian alone." 

He split the Strike team up and sent Forge, along with two other team members, off into the vent system when we arrived near 354/3626. One large group went down to Robin's room, which Nicole had retrieved the door code for while we were traveling; another, smaller group stayed with me. Once the hasties cleared out, I was able to reach Brian and Robin's minds with fairly little effort. This corridor was on lockdown, so the other teens were either worrying about what could be happening outside or sleeping. 

I checked Robin first, to make sure they were okay. Brian had hurt them when he was kidnapping them, but I couldn't feel major physical damage, only pain. Right now Brian was pacing by the door; when I switched into his mind, I found a cacophony of fear of the consequences of what he'd done, anger at Robin for leaving him, and horror at the realization that this had been a very bad idea. "Robin's all right," I reported. "Brian cut their leg when he was kidnapping them, but I don't think he did serious damage. Brian is scared of the hasties, but he's also very angry at Robin for leaving him." 

"I'm getting close to Robin's room now," Forge said. "Amber, is Robin looking in the direction of the vent hatch?"

"No," I said. "They're focused on Brian, and he's over by the door. They're not tied up at all, but they're afraid that Brian will notice if they move much. They're sitting in the sleep field not far from the vent, though." 

Forge muttered something too softly for the crystal comms to pick up, probably rude. "All right. I'll have to figure out how to get their attention." 

"Brian isn't sure this was a good idea," I continued. "He's not sure whether he wants to keep hurting Robin, or give it all up and surrender to the hasties. The emotional part of his mind is telling him that Robin... ugh... Robin deserves as much pain as they put him through, with breaking up with him right before Valentine's Day, but the logical part is saying that this is already a bad situation and giving in is probably his best hope at getting out of here. They seem pretty evenly matched, but I think having the Strike team appear unexpectedly would probably scare him into trying to barricade himself in Robin's room."

"Let's not scare him, then," Lucas mused. "If he's considering surrendering to the hasties, we can probably talk him down. Adika, I've seen you do that before." 

"I've gotten to the vent in Robin's room," Forge said. "Amber, do you have any ideas for how I can get their attention but not Brian's?"

"Robin's quite close to the vent, and Brian's on the other side of the room," I said. "If you're quiet, you may actually be able to whisper to them."

"Not yet, Forge," Rothan said hurriedly. "We might be able to get Brian to walk out of there without any more trouble." 

"A psychologist team is already on standby to help Robin," Nicole said. "Should I bring in another one to deal with Brian, instead of handing him over to the hasties immediately?"

"I think that would be a good idea," Rothan said. "I'm going to go down there and try to talk to him. Forge, I know you said you couldn't get into Robin's room without Brian noticing, but you can get in, right?"

"Yes," Forge said. I slipped into his mind. He'd gotten one of the little tools maintenance workers used to open hatches from the inside, and was showing it to the Strike team members accompanying him. "I could undo the latches and kick it out, but I'd be worried about hitting Robin."

I hopped back to Robin's mind. They were still sitting on the edge of the sleep field, watching Brian pace and gesture with his knife. "You don't need to be. Try to hit it from the right side, not the left, but Robin's too close to the wall for you to hit them." 

"All right," Rothan said. "Current plan is that the Chase team and I go down to the door and I talk to Brian, with the backup plan being that Forge and his group can get into the room and restrain Brian while we unlock the door and enter. Lucas, thoughts?"

"It sounds like a good plan to me," Lucas said. "Amber, you're going to need to monitor Brian's mind while Rothan's trying to talk to him. If he gives up on this and walks out of there, then we'll send him to the psychological team and that's the end of that. If not, we go for the strike." 

"On it." I slid into Brian's mind. 

"Forge, start undoing the latches on the vent hatch," Lucas said. "If Brian reacts badly to Rothan, kick the hatch out and deal with him." 

"On it," Forge said, beginning to slide the latches on the vent hatch away. A faint rattling noise accompanied it. 

I jumped to Robin's mind momentarily. "Forge, Robin can hear the vent hatch. They can't see you, but they know someone's trying to get in through there." 

"Are they afraid?" Lucas asked. 

"No, they think it's the hasties trying to surprise Brian," I reported. "Brian hasn't noticed it at all. He's too distracted by his thoughts."

"I'm ready to go," Rothan said. "I won't be able to talk on the crystal comms until this is over one way or the other." He knocked very gently on Robin's door. "Hello, Brian." 

Brian whipped around and nearly stabbed the door. "Who's there?" 

"Brian, I'm with Health and Safety," Rothan said in his most soothing voice. "Don't worry. I'm not here to arrest you. I'm hoping that everyone's going to walk out of here and be all right. Please open the door and come with me."

Brian laughed, and it sounded frightening. "It can't be all right. I already hurt Robin. You've probably got a nosy squad waiting to drag me off for 'intensive therapy'. One of the girls on my corridor had that, after she was caught setting fires. She said it was terrifying, the worst thing that had ever happened to her." 

"That's not the plan, Brian," Rothan said. "My plan is that you'll open this door and walk out of Robin's room, and you'll be back to your corridor by tomorrow. You are going to have therapy to help you find better ways to handle stress, but if you don't do anything else to Robin, I promise it won't be that bad." 

"He likes the idea of just walking out and being done with this," I said, "but he doesn't believe you when you say the therapy won't be that bad. The girl on his corridor never hurt anyone." I jogged over to Robin's mind. "Robin knows there's someone in the vents. They've actually figured out our basic plan - they think if the hasty in the hallway can't talk Brian down, the other hasties will come through the vent to subdue him." Back to Brian's mind, which was warring with itself. "Rothan, I'm not sure this is working. He doesn't believe you that you don't have a nosy squad, either. He's trying to get me out of his head by thinking terrible thoughts, but it's not working because he's never seen anything that terrible."

I heard Lucas hiss over the comms. "If he doesn't believe Rothan, then we're not going to get much farther with this."

"The second psychological team is already waiting," Nicole volunteered. 

Suddenly, the balance in Brian's mind shifted. "He's going for Robin!" I called. He raised the knife, moving in Robin's direction.

"Now!" Lucas snapped. 

There was a loud clang in Robin's room as the vent cover came flying across the room. It missed both Robin and Brian; Robin dove under the sleep field, while Brian held up his knife in an attempt at a defensive position. Forge was already shooting him, gun set to stun. As Brian collapsed to the ground, the door slid open and Rothan ran in. 

The medical team cleaned up Robin's leg and deemed it a fairly minor injury, although Robin should avoid too much walking on it for the next few days. One psychological team escorted them over to the community center for emergency treatment, while another departed with Brian to one of the more intensive care facilities. Emergency run done, we returned to the unit. 

Lucas was already waiting for me in our apartment. "Good news," he told me.

"Mm?" I asked, already stripping off my clothes and ready to collapse into the sleep field. Now that the adrenaline of the run was dying down, I was quite tired. 

"This means we get Valentine's Day off," he said. 

"Oh." I knew I should say something better, but couldn't quite muster it before I fell asleep. 

I woke up several hours later. My clothes were still scattered across the floor, but Lucas was gone. He returned while I was in the shower. "Good morning, love," he called from the living room. "When you're done, I have something I think you'll like." 

I was almost done anyway, but that made me hurry up. Lucas didn't generally try to get me things, since after all, I could buy anything I wanted for myself. When I emerged, wrapped in a towel, I found him sitting on the couch reading something on his dataview. He looked up and grinned. "Much as I appreciate your current outfit, you should probably put some actual clothes on. We're going Outside."

I went back into the bedroom to find something appropriate. "Is it still winter?" I called. 

"No, actually the opposite," he replied. "It's summer, and it's very warm Outside." 

I emerged in a skirt and short-sleeved top. It was probably the closest thing I owned to anything Shanna would wear, and even then, she wouldn't have been caught dead in it; the designs were simple and plain, and the colors were definitely last year's. I still liked it, though. Lucas smiled. "You look nice." 

I took another look at him. Lucas generally didn't bother much with trying to dress nicely, but today he actually seemed to have made some effort. His shirt fit well, revealing a bounty of muscles without being overly tight, and his short pants matched them perfectly. "You do too." 

Lucas smiled, somewhat embarrassed. "Thanks." 

I walked over to him and took his arm. "Now, you said you had something for me Outside?"

"Yes," Lucas said. "And I managed to get permission from Adika to only bring along some of the Strike team." 

He led me out of our apartment and towards the lifts. "I didn't have a lot of time to plan this," he admitted. "I didn't think we'd have the time today - you were scheduled for a few check runs today. But after the emergency run, I realized I had an opportunity." 

Several of the Strike team were waiting by the lifts, along with a covered basket. They escorted me and Lucas, and the basket up and through the Hive until we were Outside in one of the country parks. Lucas opened the basket, revealing a piece of cloth and food - I recognized something that looked like sandwiches, a red fruit with black pieces, and what had to be mango juice. "I couldn't manage a full trip Outside," Lucas said softly as I looked around, "but I thought we could have a picnic." 

I hugged him hard. "Lucas, I love you," I mumbled into his neck. "This is so wonderful, thank you." 

He hugged me back, smiling. "Happy Valentine's Day, Amber."


End file.
